The present invention is directed generally to tissue forceps and, in particular, to tissue forceps for grasping tissue which do not squeeze or crush soft tissue such as skin during use.
Forceps are used by doctors and other practitioners to grasp tissue such as skin during surgery or other medical procedures. Traditionally, forceps have been available in a number of different designs. Conventional forceps have grasping jaws at the end thereof which can be plain or smooth, finely serrated so that they will not slip during grasping, or with interdigitating teeth. One example of forceps utilizing interdigitating teeth on the opposing jaws incorporates a "mouse tooth" design utilizing one sharp triangular tooth on one jaw which is positioned intermediate two sharp triangular teeth on the second opposing jaw. When such conventional forceps are utilized on tissue such as skin, they cause a crushing injury to the skin which is often reflected in compromised healing of the wound.
The most popular forceps design used by plastic surgeons is the Adson-Brown forceps, with various modifications thereof. These forceps utilize opposing linear rows of fine teeth on each jaw of the forceps. In practice, such construction causes less trauma to tissue than the simple mouse tooth forceps or plain forceps with serrations. However, such forceps also cause a considerable amount of crushing of tissues, leaving behind visible marks on the tissue.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide an improved tissue forceps which avoids crushing of tissue during use.